Parents, staff try to save Arbor

A group of 150 Arbor Christian Academy parents and teachers has launched an effort to save the Amarillo school less than a week after administrators announced plans to close it.

“There’s a lot of scrambling right now to see if there are any possibilities,” said Buddy Collen, whose eighth-grade daughter attends the private K-12 school. Collen has two other children who have graduated from Arbor.

Not only must the group figure out how to fund $1.2 million in annual operating costs, it must find a building, Collen said. Administrators from Trinity Fellowship Church, which has operated Arbor since it opened in 1988, told the group in a meeting Monday the current school off Hollywood Road is unavailable for lease, church spokeswoman Kelli Bullard said.

“The facility space here that Arbor has been using, it will be utilized for ministries of the church,” Bullard said.

A new school would operate separately from Trinity, said Stephen Tow, president of the school’s Parent Service Organization. Trinity would offer furniture, textbooks and three modular buildings the school could move to its new location, Bullard said.

The group has talked to a few churches about using their facilities, although the school would not be affiliated, Tow said.

Declining enrollment in recent years amid the floundering economy prompted the decision to close, church officials said last week. The last day of classes is May 25.

“We are all heavily invested here,” said Secondary Principal Jennifer Wilkerson, who has worked at Arbor for 19 years. She has two sons attending the school.

“It would be a continuation of that investment, having a place where you can teach but also minister to the kids and meet their needs at every level.”

Tuition, scholarships and private school grants are among the options the group is considering to fund the school, said Les Smith, a parent of an Arbor junior and fifth-grader.

“It is not an inexpensive venture,” Smith said.

“It’s going to take money. The parents are going to have to dig in their pockets as much as they can, and we’re going to have to have the assistance from the community, people who are willing to see this go forth and grow.”

The group has set a June 1 deadline to determine whether the school can reopen, Tow said.